Tanja Widmann
Cell Project Space, London, UK
13 June – 17 August 2025
Cell Project Space is an artist-run space, able to function at the level of an institution to promote emerging artists while also acting independently of commercial constraints. Cell has a reputation for launching grassroots artistic talent that later lead to institutional success. Inspired by the original function of the exhibition space, and by designs of horse harnesses from the 15th and 16th centuries, artist Tanya Widmann will produce a series of works that explore themes of control, communication and bodily intervention. The horse harness is a functional object that allows control over and communication with the animal; at the same time, it also represents fantasies of domination. By reproducing these objects in different materials and media, Widmann will remove them from their original context and in doing so make power structures more visible. The works will be placed within an exhibition design by Johannes Porsch.
Tanja Widmann (born 1966 in Villach, Austria) is a multidisciplinary artist. Since 2019 she has taught Art Pedagogy/New Genres at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich. Through her video-based performances, she explores language and technologies of reproduction, questioning the function of the person that stands in front of the camera. Her work has been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including University Gallery of the Angewandte Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna; FELIX GAUDLITZ, Vienna; mumok, Vienna; Museum Brandhorst, Munich; VOX, Montréal; Nous Moules, Vienna; Kiev Biennale; Secession, Vienna; Grazer Kunstverein; Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe; tranzitdisplay, Prague; Manifesta 8 Murcia and mukah, Antwerp.
This is her first collaboration with Phileas. The exhibition results from a research trip to Vienna by curator Adomas Narkevičius in March 2024 at the invitation of Phileas.
